Weakening the Power of Local Military Governors

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After depriving the generals of their commands, Zhao Kuangyin then spearheaded the attackon local military governors.

During the Tang Dynasty, military governors(“jie-du-shi”in Chinese) were at first only in command of the army in a prefecture. Later they were in charge of both military and administrative affairs of the prefecture, and finally wrested control of outlying prefectures as well. As a result, the local authorities had exceeded the central government in power, and that was really a case of the tail wagging the dog, directly leading to the fall of the dynasty.

“Picture of Emperor Taizu Kickinga Ball,”Copied by Hu Yuanhui of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)Bal-kicking(“cu-ju”in chinese) had been a very popular play during the Song Dynasty; its thought as the embryonic form of modern football play. The original paintingis annotations on Hu’s copy, besides Emperor Taizu(the first on the righti, other figures in the picture were Chancelor Zhao Pu, Taizu’s successor Zhao Guangyi, generals Shi shouxin and Dang Jin, and chu zhaofu, an official in charge of the capital city’s public security.

Drawing lessons from the mistakes of the Tang, Zhao undercut the power of the military governors by appointing civil officials in charge of local affairs. Meanwhile, he assembled crack troops of the country in the capital Bianjing, increasing the number of the imperial guards to several hundred thousand. Under such an arrangement, local military governors were no longer able to challenge the royal court. Zhao thereby laid a solid foundation for the prolonged rule of his empire.

Portrait of Zhao Guangyi(939-997)

Zhao Guangyi, usually referred to by his posthumous title Taizong, acceded to the throne at the age of 37 and occupied it for 22 years (976-997). To avoid the taboo on the personal name of his brother zhao Kuangyin, he changed his original name Kuangyi to Guangyi.